2 J!J .,.,, "..': ' "'. . ."' ,. ..,. ""' .'.. "' . .:,..,., ..'." ,,: .. ::.0 .0.; .;. ::.. ",:",,," ,,' , ..:..... ð dJJ J '{ - (A7 . 'JfJ ,. - <== .... : 1.. - ', G,.. .,V' .., <:.- vC/ J , .......a / - ,/ / 4 1J .. ---.:.::,. .' --...... ,......... - ". " , ," ., , ,..,',.," . '::'. . 0 ,.. , ' ....... c 0 Q ø çDO . , , ð \J- " -<<10. oJ :;II .. ". " .-? c,. .. u c;t:P' .;.-- ,: ,/. ""'.w;<...., / though it was broken by tea, which Charles decided we should have on the road, because his wife didn't know we were coming. He thought she might be upset, even so, but she seemed not to be when she saw us. She was surprised, but cheerful and brisk, and took us lightly to task for not having come straight on. Then she went about preparations for supper, and Charles and I set to work on the code signals used in instrument landings. We were in the dining room, which was also, plainly, the real living room- the used room-of the house. Mrs. Banister's chores took her in and out of there, and Charles regarded these forays uneasily, as if he thought she was scouting him. At last, when she . Q) / _/7/ /' - // / .... oJ .... .. (], ':-I Q) J ,// / c / -, <0'" t> .ÞO,r- was out of the room, he proposed that we go into the parlor. "She won't mind, I'm sure," he said, "though she would've once, I can tell you. But she sits there herself a good bit now, when I'm not about." He dropped his voice to a whIsper, and nodded indulgently. "Keeps her warmer. Since she was ill. No draft from the bashed-in place. And she can't have our heads for dOIng the same as she does, can she, now?" And then he apologized again for having asked me to come. He said that if I'd help him a little longer, we'd have our supper and I could go to bed, but that he thought perhaps he'd better stay up all night. I told him he needed rest much more than he needed study, but this was an 35 idea he could not even consider. He led the way to the parlor and pushed open the sliding door, and as I went into the room I saw that a photograph of Charles-a young Charles, in a wooden frame the shape of a heart-now stood in the place of the three monkeys on the table. I had not seen it before, though I had been in ever) room of the house on my first visit. It was a pale-brown, faded picture, and the thin wood of the frame looked old and dry, like that of a worn brown shingle. Its outer edge was bevelled and gently scalloped, and in each scallop was either a small wooden rose or the spot of dried glue where such a rose had been. The curves of the heart itself were voluptuous. They made the long neck and angular face they enclosed seem touchingly austere. Charles had evidently been asked, or had felt re- quired, to strike a pose. He craned up from the V of the frame with the alert, puzzled air of a hungry nestling, but hIs chin was lifted-thrust high by a young man who patently had little thrust about him, though he must surely have want- ed to have it-and his gaze was inquir- ing and brave. Charles saw the photograph, too, an instant after I did. He was behind me. I heard no special sound or movement from him, but by the very quality of his silence I kne\v that he was startled. A small radio was on the table, partly hidden by the picture, and a sewing basket was on the seat of the chair along- side Cbarles strode past me and laid the notebooks he was carrying on the sofa. As I followed, I heard steps al- most running to the door, and Mrs. Banister came In looking astonished. She stopped and turned back, and then stood for a protracted moment, glanc- ing once or twice at Charles, who stared at her, while the picture, un- acknowledged, seemed to swell like a presence engulfing the room. Then Mrs. BanIster scooped up the sewing basket and left, saying only that the room was dirty and that Charles was a queer one. "Well!" Charles saId to me. "Well, now! I expect we ought to get on with it," We both sat on the sofa, across the room from the photograph, and be- gan again to direct the flights and landings of imaginary aircraft. They went smoothly enough for a minute or two. "A picture of meself," Charles muttered suddenly, interrupting, nod- ding in the direction of the photograph without looking at it. "Quite an old one " I said I could see that it was The